Beat the heat with homemade ice pops

Whether you attribute it to global warming, collective nostalgia for childhood, or simply a coincidence, it’s surprising to see that one of the best-selling categories of cookbooks right now consists of books devoted to making ice pops. Four of these books, with titles such as “Ice Pop Joy,” “Pops!” and “Perfect Pops,” are brand-new this summer.

The proliferation of cookbooks and tools for making ice pops might lead to the impression that making them was complicated, but, fortunately, that’s not the case. Making ice pops isn’t much harder than, well, making ice.

At its most basic, an ice pop is simply frozen fruit juice with a stick or other handle inserted during the freezing process. While pop molds might simplify the process, pops also can be made in paper cups, shot glasses or ice cube trays.

In “Pops! Icy Treats for Everyone,” author Krystina Castella suggests using shaped ice cube trays for mini-pops and larger cylinders for some of her adult pops. She also offers a long list of potential pop handles that includes plastic spoons, rigid straws, chopsticks and even glow-in-the-dark lightsticks.

Castella’s pops oscillate from super-healthy versions, such as carrot and wheat grass pops to boozy “cocktail pops” in mojito, martini and tequila sunrise flavors, but most of the new ice pop cookbooks concentrate on delivering cool blasts of fresh-tasting fruit.

In “Paletas: Authentic Recipes for Mexican Ice Pops,” ice pop entrepreneur Fany Gerson shares some of the recipes that have made her frozen treats a year-round hot commodity in New York City.

“The majority are made with fresh fruit, which is great on its own,” Gerson said. “When others flavors or ingredients are added to a paleta, they’re usually there only to enhance the natural succulence of the fruit.”

Gerson bases her paletas on the frozen treats she enjoyed while growing up in Mexico.

“They are everywhere in Mexico,” she said. “I have yet to encounter a Mexican town, no matter how small, without a paleteria.”

To make paletas at home, Gerson recommends turning the freezer to its lowest setting, and clearing a space on the top shelf.

“The top shelf is usually the coldest, so try to fit your molds there,” she said.

Castella also stresses the importance of having the freezer at its coldest and has plenty of other information on freezing. Pops with more ingredients and less water will have a lower freezing point and take longer to freeze, she said, and adding sugar requires special attention.

Sugar keeps the base molecules from sticking together, Castella said, so dissolving the sugar by cooking it into a simple syrup will make for a harder-frozen pop. Skimping on sugar might seem like a solution, but Gerson points out that frozen foods taste less sweet than the same mixture would at room temperature, so some fine-tuning might be required.

Freezing ice pops usually takes a minimum of six hours, but a new kitchen gadget, the Zoku Quick Pop freezer, cuts the time to 10 minutes by surrounding the pops with a supercooling solution similar to liquid nitrogen.

The drawback is that it only makes three pops at a time, and with several months of scorching weather still ahead of us, are three fruity, icy, healthy treats really enough?

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Cantaloupe Ice Pops

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

4 cups chopped fresh cantaloupe (about 1 small)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pinch of salt

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.

Pour the syrup into a food processor or blender. Add the melon, lemon juice and salt, and blend until smooth.

If using conventional molds, divide the mixture among the molds, snap on the lid and freeze until solid. If using classes or other unconventional molds, freeze until the pops are beginning to set (1 1/2 to 2 hours), then insert the sticks and freeze until solid, 4 to 5 hours. Makes 8-10.

SOURCE: “Paletas: Authentic Recipes for Mexican Ice Pops, Shaved Ice and Aguas Frescas,” by Fany Gerson

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Vietnamese Coffee Pops

2 cups extra-strong coffee or espresso

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk (or regular milk, sweetened to taste)

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup, optional

Mix the coffee with the sweetened condensed milk. Taste, and add a bit more milk, if desired. (A spoonful or two is fine, but any more and the pops won’t freeze as hard.) If desired, divide mixture and stir chocolate syrup into one half.

If using chocolate, pour that mixture into pop molds first, filling half full, and then top with coffee mixture. If making all-coffee, pour into pop molds. Freeze until solid.

MAKES: 6-8 small pops

SOURCE: “The Perfect Scoop,” by David Leibovitz

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Kiwi-Lime Pops

1 1/3 cups water

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon finely freshly grated lime zest

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/3 cup lime juice

1 drop green food coloring, optional

2 kiwis, peeled and very thinly sliced

Pour water into a small saucepan, add sugar, lime zest and ginger. Stir over high heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Strain the syrup through a fine sieve set over a bowl. Stir in lime juice and food coloring, if using.

Line 8 individual frozen-treat molds or small (2-ounce) paper cups with slices of kiwi, pressing them onto the sides so they are close together but not overlapping. Fill each mold or cup with the lime mixture.

Freeze until beginning to set, about 1 hour. Insert frozen-treat sticks and freeze until completely firm. Dip the molds briefly in hot water before unmolding.

MAKES: 8 pops

SOURCE: Eating Well Magazine

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Strawberry Pops

4 cups fresh strawberries, preferably wild, hulled and cut into quarters

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine the strawberries and sugar in a bowl. :et sit until the strawberries start releasing their natural juices, 20 to 30 minutes. Place in a saucepan with the water over medium heat. Summer until they are slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.

Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor, add the lemon juice and puree until smooth; alternatively, you could leave some chunks in it if you’d like. Divide the mixture among the mold and freeze until solid, about 5 hours.

MAKES: 8-10 large pops.

SOURCE: “Paletas: Authentic Recipes for Mexican Ice Pops, Shaved Ice and Aguas Frescas,” by Fany Gerson